Bob Vandergriff Jr. beat Spencer Massey in the first round, but then lost to Tony Schumacher.  (Ron Lewis photo)

Words compiled from team press releases by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis and Jeff Burk

Jeff Arend and Funny Car team owner and NHRA icon Connie Kalitta celebrated an emotional, tearful victory Monday at the rain-delayed O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Joining Arend in the winner’s circle at the 21st of 24 races in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series were Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

TOP FUEL

Morgan Lucas has been saying all year he can beat any given driver at any given time in his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster. Monday at Memphis Motorsports Park he proved it again, beating three higher-ranked opponents -- including teammate and rookie-of-the-year candidate Shawn Langdon, top qualifier Larry Dixon, and point leader Tony Schumacher -- for his third NHRA trophy of the '09 season.

"To win any race feels awesome; to beat some of the best guys in the sport to get the win is exceptional," Lucas said. " We went five years without winning one of these deals; now we've won three and they've all came after rain delays. I guess I'm not meant to win races with a full set of bleachers."

The day started with a gut-check race against Langdon, who is fighting hard to secure the Auto Club Rookie of the Year award. While rumblings in the pit had Lucas giving the win to Langdon to help his cause along, nothing could have been farther from the truth as the two went head-to-head in an epic race, the first ever between the longtime friends. After 1,000 feet of battling side-by-side, it was Lucas eking out the victory by .005 seconds, 3.871 at 309.84 mph to Langdon's 3.886 at 311.27 mph.

Up next was two-time world champion Dixon and his powerful Al-Anabi Racing dragster, which had carried him to the No. 1 qualifying spot. In another classic race, both men streaked down the strip as mirror images until Lucas was able to shove his nose in front for an even closer .001-second win.

A wire-to-wire job on part-timer Steve Torrence in the semifinals set up the colossal final-round match-up with Schumacher, who has won the last five world titles and assumed the point lead with a win last weekend in Dallas.